Atari RF board causing problems??

qbass187

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Hey Guys,
Anyone ever have this problem?
On both my Crystal Castles & my Star Wars when I push my PCB all the way into their respective cages and push in all the white plastic plungers of the RF boards into the PCB cage the games act up...
CC will keep resetting as if the +5 is too high and The sound acts up on the SW.
When I pull out the plungers and pop the RF board away from their PCB cages the problem goes away.

Anyone else ever have this problem?
I've never heard of it and I can't seem to find any mention of this phenomenon while searching the site.

It's weird...
 
I am interested in this too. I just picked up a CC and when going through it I pushed in about 4 of those white pins as a matter of generally cleaning up the machine. Now, I know the caps are all original and I was never around the game long enough to know if it would intermittently shut down and restart. But now it does...I found a loose ground clip but that was fixed early on.

I hope changing the big blue cap will fix it.

Cheers,
Mike
 
Those boards can cause all kinds of issues. It add two more connection points to break down. First thing I do with a game......toss the filter board.

Edward
 
I am interested in this too. I just picked up a CC and when going through it I pushed in about 4 of those white pins as a matter of generally cleaning up the machine. Now, I know the caps are all original and I was never around the game long enough to know if it would intermittently shut down and restart. But now it does...I found a loose ground clip but that was fixed early on.

I hope changing the big blue cap will fix it.

Cheers,
Mike

First try adjusting the +5 on the ARII power supply. I was having the same problem and the +5 was too high. It's the only adjustable pot on the ARII power supply...it's either a small wheel or in a small blue box.
Do that before replacing Big Blue!
And don't push teh RFI board all the way back into the cage, keep it about 1/2 an inch away (Which is what I've done) and that seems to eliminate that problem.
 
First try adjusting the +5 on the ARII power supply. I was having the same problem and the +5 was too high. It's the only adjustable pot on the ARII power supply...it's either a small wheel or in a small blue box.
Do that before replacing Big Blue!
And don't push teh RFI board all the way back into the cage, keep it about 1/2 an inch away (Which is what I've done) and that seems to eliminate that problem.

You're asking for either the ARII to burn up, burn the edge connector or worse by using those filter boards. GET RID OF THEM.
FILTER boards are absolute garbage.
 
OK, I am new to this forum/aspect of arcade games but not new to pinball repair (SS games). So, what's a filter board look like? I have downloaded the manual and the schematics and also have the ones that came with the game. Just getting used to these new terms in reference to arcade games compared to pinball. I rebuilt the solenoid driver boards and rectifier boards on my pins so I "understand" the lingo generally...

Thanks!
Mike

Update Edit: I think I see what you mean now...the EMI Shield PCB is merely an extension cord of sorts for the motherboard. Got it. So, do people generally remove this and simply plug the cables directly into the main PCB?
 
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OK, I am new to this forum/aspect of arcade games but not new to pinball repair (SS games). So, what's a filter board look like? I have downloaded the manual and the schematics and also have the ones that came with the game. Just getting used to these new terms in reference to arcade games compared to pinball. I rebuilt the solenoid driver boards and rectifier boards on my pins so I "understand" the lingo generally...

Thanks!
Mike

Update Edit: I think I see what you mean now...the EMI Shield PCB is merely an extension cord of sorts for the motherboard. Got it. So, do people generally remove this and simply plug the cables directly into the main PCB?

EMI - RFI is what they are generally referred to as - yep
Yes, remove and plug harness directly into the PCB. If a person is worried about the PCB/s falling out when the machine is moved then either zip tie them into the cage or remove them. But suggesting someone keeps using them - terrible suggestion. As soon as you start to lose your ground connection the ARII will typically burn a resistor on itself and sometimes even burn a hole through itself. The edge connector on the game PCB will get burnt up as well. It can cause game reset issues as well. It's not needed and is the reason most games in our possession don't have them on them. OPs threw them away a long time ago for the reasons mentioned above.
 
EMI - RFI is what they are generally referred to as - yep
Yes, remove and plug harness directly into the PCB. If a person is worried about the PCB/s falling out when the machine is moved then either zip tie them into the cage or remove them. But suggesting someone keeps using them - terrible suggestion. As soon as you start to lose your ground connection the ARII will typically burn a resistor on itself and sometimes even burn a hole through itself. The edge connector on the game PCB will get burnt up as well. It can cause game reset issues as well. It's not needed and is the reason most games in our possession don't have them on them. OPs threw them away a long time ago for the reasons mentioned above.


Wow, I've never heard this before.
I'll check it out...
 
thanks for that advice. I managed to get my name into the high score (measly 170k) so that my initials are on the maze. Tore down the trackball, bearings, etc and now it looks really great when lit (not so much when not lit).

When my new capacitor comes in the mail I'll tackle the board as suggested here.

Cheers,
Mike
 
As a follow up, do I need to ground the PCB to the chassis in some way or simply attach the connectors and power up? I have removed the RFI board from the game.

Edit: I'll answer it - YES! Woo whoo...the game runs fine with no resets.
 
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